


Come together

by Lizadrawsss



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Fluff with Angst, Platonic LAMP - Freeform, Probably won’t be very long but you never know haha, Set after accepting anxiety, deceit and remus are mentioned
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-01-26 21:22:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21380782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizadrawsss/pseuds/Lizadrawsss
Summary: After years of being alone, Virgil gets invited to sit with the main sides for breakfast the morning after accepting anxiety, and the sides discover that living alone for all that time meant that Virgil picked up some unusual habits.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil & Creativity | Roman & Logic | Logan & Morality | Patton & Thomas Sanders
Comments: 22
Kudos: 190





	1. Chapter 1

Virgil had woken up at his usual time of four in the morning that day. He had quickly gotten dressed into his usual hoodie and jeans, thrown on some messy eye shadow and quickly rushed to the kitchen to get breakfast before any of the other sides woke up. But as he searched through the cupboards for something he could stomach this early in the morning, he thought back to yesterday.

The sides had come to find him. Called him important and useful. Virgil didn’t know what to think about it, he didn’t know if anything would really change between them or if it was all for the video. He didn’t want to get kicked out, or banished from the kitchen like he used to when he first showed up, but he also wanted to see if they would be nice to him now. Maybe he didn’t have to wake up extremely early every morning to avoid the sides. Maybe he could grab a snack while someone else was already in the kitchen. Maybe they’d even say good morning to him.

But no. He couldn’t risk facing the rejection from the other sides, so he grabbed a few snack bars and hurried off back into his room. 

It was a couple hours later when Virgil noticed the first big change after being accepted. A knock, two sharp rasps on his door echoed around his room and startled Virgil. No one knocked on his door unless they were mad at him or unless they were filming a video. But the video had been filmed yesterday, so Virgil thought back to the week that had passed for anything he had done wrong. He ended up having a long list of things he’d done, and braced for the loud voices when he opened the door. Instantly he slipped into a more arrogant facial expression when he locked eyes with Logan, who Virgil couldn’t read no matter how hard he tried.

“Good morning” he began, and Virgil was instantly thrown back. No one had said good morning to him before. Well, at least not sincerely. Roman may have said it sarcastically once when Virgil dropped his cup of coffee all over the kitchen floor, but virgil didn’t exactly count that as a proper good morning. 

“Patton said breakfast will be ready in two minutes, so it would be expected that you would be downstairs very soon” he finished, looking just as blank as ever. Virgil couldn’t find any sincerity in Logan’s voice, but he also couldn’t see any hint of mocking, and so Virgil was suddenly very confused.

“What?” He asked, trying hard to maintain his outer appearance but struggling as he replayed what Logan had said.

“You will be joining us for breakfast, yes?” He asked, suddenly matching Virgil’s look of confusion, and for the first time today Virgil could read him. Why had he thought Virgil would join them? Did they always meet for breakfast? Was that a thing he had never noticed before? Virgil suddenly felt a lot more isolated than he previously did, and he honestly wanted time to think it all over.

“Um, I’ve actually already eaten...” he trailed off, but he saw a hint of disappointment on Logan’s face and back tracked quickly, “but yeah, I’ll be down now” he tried to smile, but it honestly felt more like a grimace. Logan tried to reciprocate, and thankfully his looked completely genuine.

Virgil ended up following Logan downstairs, and when the entered the kitchen, a feast seemed to be lying in front of them all. Virgil couldn’t name half the foods on the table. In fact, he doesn’t think he’s ever eaten an actual, home cooked meal before. He practically lived off of snack bars and whatever random things he could find in the fridge. He’d had pizza before, but that was just the sides’ left overs from when Thomas ordered some.

When he walked into the room, Patton and roman both smiled at him, and greeted him with a “good morning.” It was weird, and oddly domestic. They all looked so comfortable as Logan took his seat and began dishing himself some food. Virgil knew that there was toast on the table, and he knew that there were sausages as he’s once eaten those on a pizza. But other than that, he hadn’t really seen any of this food before.

“I think I may have gone a little over board on the breakfast buffet, but I didn’t know what you liked, kiddo and I thought that your first proper meal with us should be special!” Patton bounced over to Virgil, taking his arm and leading him to a seat that had been prepared for him and sat him down. Virgil was still in shock from all the food, and the nice welcomes, and the thought that was put into all of this. Patton did this for him, and he didn’t even know what it was.

“Tuck in, kiddo!” Patton called, and roman was then dishing himself some food. Logan had finished putting things on his plate before patton had even sat Virgil down, so Patton and roman were the only two grabbing things at that moment. Virgil paused before grabbing anything, looking around to try and figure out what this stuff was.

He looked at his seat, and saw a rectangular thing that his plate was on. He had no idea what it was, but it was hard and everyone had one. When he looked over at logan, he saw him using... something, to eat his food with. Two shiny things sat in Logan’s hand and he was stabbing his food with them. When Virgil looked down again, he saw that he too had them. One of them was long and seemed kind of sharp. Knife. He’s seen bigger versions of these, and more weaponised versions, like in horror films. And Thomas always gets nervous when using a sharp knife, but this didn’t look sharp enough to really hurt someone. And the other one was even weirder. It had like, four mini knives sticking out of the top, but they weren’t sharp at all.

“Virgil? Are you okay?” Patton asked, noticing that Virgil still hadn’t dished any food for himself, and so he startled into action and grabbed the nearest “scoopy” thing to him and scooped... something onto his plate. It was yellow and, gooey. Honestly it didn’t look appetising but he didn’t dare put it back now. Picking up the silver thing with the prongs, he tried to copy what Logan was doing with his yellow goop. He stabbed a piece of it and slowly lifted it to his lips before dropping it into his mouth. 

Across the table, roman watched in confusion as Virgil looked extremely out of his comfort zone using a fork. Has he never used cutlery before? Virgil looked at the piece of scrambled egg on his fork in mild disgust before shivering it into his mouth and roman was completely lost at this point. Did Virgil not like egg? Why did he put it on his plate if he didn’t like it?

Suddenly Virgil gagged and spat the egg back onto his plate in utter disgust. Patton and Logan both jumped at the noise and roman simply continued to watch in confusion.

“That, that was vile, who would eat that?!” He said in a slight growl. Patton looked devastated and turned to Virgil in guilt.

“I’m so sorry kiddo! I didn’t know what type of egg you liked! I should’ve just asked instead of making scrambled, I’m sorry I can make some more!” And then Patton was out of his seat rushing to the cupboard to grab more eggs.

Virgil looked horrified before standing up and telling Patton, “no, pat it’s okay! I’ve never tried an... egg? Before! I swear it wasn’t your cooking I’m sure everyone else thinks they taste great! I just... don’t like yellow stuff apparently” he laughed off the ending, before looking around the room.

Roman looked on in shock, Logan looked like he was calculating something, and Patton looked... sad. Virgil didn’t understand why this was a big deal, but when Logan started talking, it only went downhill from there.

“Virgil, how many items of food in this table have you tried?” He asked, taking out a notebook from absolutely nowhere and writing notes. Virgil looked at the table and counted the items me knew of, rather than the ones he had tried. I mean he had only really tried a plain piece of toast and a small slice of sausage. “Um, maybe three?” He said, though it was more like a question. Patton seemed to whine and get even more sad about that, while roman looked at the food and saw what was a very ordinary, well known meal in front of them.

“What is this?” Logan asked, pointing to the small thing with prongs and Virgil blanked. It was clearly expected that he knew this. He was supposed to know this and yet he didn’t have a clue what the name for it was. So he dodged the question.

“What is this an interrogation? Look just because I don’t eat a large variety of foods doesn’t mean-“ 

“Large variety?” Roman asked in disbelief. “What have you eaten? What is your variety?” And Virgil once again fell silent. He shock himself of the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach and dealt with this the same way he had dealt with everything for the past ten years. Aggression and accusation. He was getting defensive.

“I wasn’t invited to all your little meals. I wasn’t invited with the dark sides either, not that I think they actually had meals but still! It’s not my fault I don’t know this stuff now can we just drop it!” He said before quickly storming out of the room.

Logan sighed and turned to Patton, who seemed to be broken at the news. “He’s right” Patton sighed, looking to the others. “We didn’t invite him to anything and,” he broke off, taking a breath. “He didn’t even know what a fork was.”

The weight of this suddenly dropped onto everyone and in the confusion about what to do, Patton and roman both turned to Logan, who was still scribbling in his notebook.

“Luckily for you two, I have a plan. Virgil has been isolated for quite sometime. I imagine he’s picked up some abnormal habits in that time, but to get to know what they are, we cannot confront him about any of them. That means the food situation gets left alone for now. I’ll continue to take notes. I believe I have a hypothesis for another issue which I will need to confirm but please, just act normal and don’t bring up any of his... oddities in front of him. If you see an issue, talk to me. We will deal with this the intelligent way.” Logan finished smiling. Patton seemed relieved but roman almost seemed defensive.

“The intelligent way?” He scoffed, “as oppose to what?”

“The roman way” Logan smirked and roman spluttered as Patton tried to hide a giggle between his hands. 

They’d be okay eventually, but first they had to figure out what exactly was the problem.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan tests his hypothesis.

Virgil had been laying in his bed for most of the afternoon. He hadn’t really wanted to Leave his room in case he had been faced with another thing he didn’t recognise. He didn’t know it was weird, or strange. He didn’t know everyone else just knew all of this stuff, how did they remember it all anyway?

After watching enough conspiracy videos to last a lifetime, Virgil finally shut his laptop in a huff. He didn’t see the big deal, so he had never tried an egg, or most of the foods on that table. It’s not like everyone had welcomed him to try them. He didn’t have time to cook, since he certainly didn’t want to get caught in the kitchen when he wasn’t welcome. Although, they did invite him to breakfast, so maybe he was welcome...

No. No he wasn’t. They had their own way of doing things and adding Virgil into the mix would only mess up their flow, and they all fitted together perfectly. Virgil simply didn’t. Sure, he could eat breakfast with them now, and they didn’t actively want him gone, but he wasn’t really a part of their group. He wanted to be. God, he would give anything to just fit right in with them, but he was too different, to weird to really slot in perfectly. There just wasn’t enough room for him.

And that was okay, as far as Virgil was concerned. He had been alone for a long time. He didn’t need the others. Deep down he knew he wanted them so badly that he would kill for it. He loved the sides, and it crushed him to know that love wasn’t reciprocated. But he would never tell them that. Sure he loved them, but caring was a sign of weakness, and Virgil had to be strong.

There was a knock at the door that startled Virgil into sitting up in his bed. A soft voice quickly followed, “virge? Kiddo? We were going to put on a movie if you wanted to join us?” Patton asked.

Virgil sighed a little in relief - it could’ve been a murderer knocking. Statistically he knew that was practically impossible. I mean how could thomas have a murderer in his head, but still, anxiety wasn’t always rational. 

Virgil thought about his response, and considered accepting. It was odd to be invited to movie nights and breakfast meals all in one day, but Virgil didn’t want the invitations to go away. And they would, if he kept declining them. So he almost felt inclined to say yes, until he remembered this morning. The stares and the embarrassment and the confrontational questions. 

No, the answer was no. But before Virgil could even say that, Patton knocked again, a little firmer this time. “Are you awake kiddo? I mean, I don’t want to wake you up, so if you don’t reply in the next couple of seconds I’m going to assume you’re asleep?” Patton sighed, sounding sad.

Virgil considered speaking up, saying no, but he felt that getting rejected at this stage would only hurt Patton more, so he stayed silent and continued to try and convince himself that he was doing the right thing.

Imagine if Virgil sat strangely, or if he ate weirdly during the film. What if the other sides didn’t sing along? Or dance along? Or even know the words? Virgil assumed that not everyone knew all the words to every film they had watched, but Virgil didn’t exactly have a long list of films he could watch.

He only had access to the films that made Thomas anxious. If he went into the common room, he could watch whatever film he wanted, but there was no way he would do that and risk getting caught, so he simply rewatched his limited supply of films from the comforts of his own room. 

The list mainly consisted of horror films, with a few Disney ones scattered around simply because thomas had seen some conspiracies about them and then gone on a marathon. So yeah, Virgil knew every word to those films, since whenever he was bored, what else could he do other than watch them again.

He heard a deep sigh sound outside his door, and the faint sound of foot steps getting further away as Patton left. He felt bad for not replying, but he didn’t know what else to do. He didn’t want to deny Patton, so letting him believe he was asleep was the next best option.

He ended up slipping back under the duvet in his bed and throwing on another YouTube video until he eventually fell asleep around 1am. His sleep was restless and barely refreshed him, but he didn’t know any better as he had been running on empty for years now. He didn’t know what it felt like to be rested. 

Especially when his four o’clock alarm went off. Every morning the alarm startled him and he shot up in his bed again, panting, before remembering that it’s just his alarm, and that he had to hurry. Virgil was a surprisingly light sleeper, although it wasn’t that surprising since he was always on guard. 

He quickly threw on his hoodie and smudged some eyeshadow messily under his eyes before silently slipping out of his room and down the corridor. He purposefully held his breath outside every sides door, until he eventually made it to the kitchen and quickly slipped inside. He made the journey so often that he no longer turned on any lights, as he knew that way like the back of his hand.

He firstly checked the fridge for left overs, but didn’t find anything that he fancied in there, so turned instead to his trusted cupboard where the sides kept all their snacks. He grabbed some breakfast bars and some bottles of water, enough to last him a week, and silently exited the room again before making the same journey back to his bedroom.

And as the sound of his bedroom door closing echoed down the corridor and into the kitchen, a light switch was flipped, and the sound of pen on paper echoed right back.

——

Logan had been trying to watch Virgil for the past week to see if anything was off. He had picked up a few things, like how Virgil didn’t really chew his food, he just sort of swallowed it whole as if eating slowly wasn’t an option. He also only drank when he was thirsty, never for pleasure or to stay hydrated. 

Patton noticed a few things as well, like how he seemed afraid of people touching him and how he was really sensitive to light. One time, in the morning when he cane down for breakfast, he had hissed as he walked into the kitchen, asking why it was so bright. Only two lights were on at the time. Patton told Logan as soon as virgil had left.

Roman noticed something as well. Virgil seemed lost a lot of the time. Like he didn’t really know what to do with himself. He was usually in his room and only came out if he had a job to do, but unless he had something to occupy his time, he didn’t like being around the other sides and he kept to himself a lot. He also still had a bad attitude a lot of the time, but he was trying to fix that as much as he could.

By the time the week came to an end, Logan had three pages of notes concerning Virgil. However, Virgil had come out of his shell a lot more. The sides hadn’t asked him any questions and hidden away their odd looks until he was gone, so he now joined them for breakfast every morning, and he even joined their movie night one time. 

Roman didn’t mention the singing along to every song, Patton pretended he didn’t notice when Virgil would mouth along to the whole movie - one that virgil had picked out himself. And Logan didn’t say anything about the fact that he seemed nervous about trying popcorn (apparently for the first time). In turn, Virgil didn’t notice the concerned glances, or the nervous eye contact between the other sides, or the subtle scribble of a pen on paper.

The sides seemed to be doing really well, but Logan had confirmed his theory, and felt it was dangerous to not at least try and help Virgil break this habit.

——

Virgil had been listening to music in his room for a couple hours when the two sharp knocks sounded on his door. He knew it was Logan, as it was always two knocks with him. Patton would always knock in a rhythm and roman would always knock three times while singing some Disney song.

“Come in” virge said, taking off his head phones and setting them to the side as the door slowly opened and Logan slipped inside. “What’s up specs” he smirked.

Logan didn’t smile back. “I have found out some... troubling things about your sleeping pattern and I’d like to ask you a few things.” Logan started. This instantly set Virgil on edge, as he clearly didn’t want to go through an interrogation. But he thought back to his sleeping habits, and thought that there was nothing wrong, so he just nodded along.

“Okay”

“What time do you go to bed?” Logan began.

“Anytime between 10 and 2” Virgil answered, not making eye contact.

“And wake up?” 

“Four”

“Why?”

“To get breakfast?”

“But you have breakfast with us?”

“Yeah but I like to bring snacks back to my room.” Virgil replied defensively, crossing his arms.

“How many meals do you eat in a day?” 

“Depends what you count as meals”

“More than a snack bar or a piece of fruit, Virgil.”

Virgil paused for a moment, thinking, and then turned to Logan confidently. “One”

Logan sighed and shock his head and Virgil felt like he’d been doused in cold water. He’d said something wrong. What he did was weird, apparently. He didn’t want to be the outcast again, he wanted to fit in. He didn’t even think anyone would find out he woke up that early, that was the whole point. He wouldn’t disturb the other sides. So how did Logan even know what to ask?

“You knew” Virgil stated in an accusatory voice. He glared at Logan while Logan simply sighed and pulled out a notebook from... somewhere. Virgil stared at it and suddenly felt even more afraid.

“When I first asked you to join us for breakfast, you said you had already eaten. I found that strange, and judging from the fact you have large bags under your eyes, presumably from not sleeping enough, I guessed you must be awake early. So I sat in the kitchen one morning, in the dark, and saw you come in to raid the cupboards. You do this everyday Virgil, and it’s not healthy to get less than eight hours sleep, especially when you could easily get food in the day time” Logan finished, looking at Virgil and seeing betrayal written across his face.

“You experimented on me?” He asked, voice angry and hurt. Logan looked shock at the utter contempt hidden in those vowels. Logan was helping him, looking out for his well-being, so why was virgil mad at him for caring?

“I was simply trying to prove a theory abo-“

“You treated me like a lab rat, Logan! You took notes! I bet Patton and roman were in on his too, right? You all conspired to try and fix me?” He was mad, undoubtedly, but he was also visibly shaking and his voice was catching in his throat. These were all textbook signs of hurting, an logan didn’t want Virgil to feel sad, so he tried to explain.

“We are simply worried about yo-“ he was cut off again.

“Get out.” 

It was said quietly, but it seemed so loud in the room now. Logan hesitated, but decided to try and apologise for... caring(?) Tomorrow. Right now virgil was too emotional and needed to calm down. Logan left silently, and Virgil let a single tear fall after he was gone.

He knew it was too good to be true. Of course the sides were studying him like a lab rat. He wasn’t equal to them, they wanted to fix him. They wanted to change him into something he’s not. He knew deep down that they meant well, that he was over reacting, but after seeing that book. Virgil felt hurt. He just wished he hadn’t really believed that the sides had accepted him for who he was.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil speaks to the group and they discover a few more habits he’d picked up.

Virgil knew he had over reacted the second Logan had closed the door. Of course he waited for Logan to fully leave the hallway before he completely lost it. He didn’t know what it was about the idea of Logan writing notes, but he just hated the idea of being watched. Normally he was good to spotting those things, and the thought of Logan being in the kitchen one morning and Virgil not seeing him? Virgil thought he had impeccable vision in the dark, and yet he had missed an entire person.

He wanted to apologise. He frankly felt terrible about hurting Logan’s feelings, because virgil wasn’t blind, and he saw the confusion and hurt in Logan’s eyes when he told him to leave. He felt awful, but for the moment, he needed his space. And his space was his room.

He felt safe there. He likes the familiarity of the walls, the posters, the cobwebs and the colours. He liked that the room was always dark. He liked that the door automatically locked when he closed it, and he was very pleased in this moment that he had made the room soundproof a few years ago.

He also appreciated his music, and what better time to listen to some angry music than when Virgil was feeling particularly angry at the world. He found himself quickly screaming lyrics at the top of his lungs, pretend he was saying then to the others. He felt dumb and childish but he also didn’t care. 

He felt free.

And after he had ruined his voice to the point of not being able to speak, he finally felt ready to apologise for yelling at Logan. The only problem? It was about a week after Logan had initially talked to him, and Virgil was now panicking that he had left it too long. 

The sides had knocked on his soft everyday with an invitation to breakfast, dinner and movie nights. Virgil didn’t respond. He didn’t know how to. He felt like he had left them alone for too long and they deserved an explanation why. But he didn’t even have one.

However, one thing he didn’t do during this week, was wake up especially early. He ended up sleeping in all day until about noon when he would naturally wake, and although he felt like he had wasted most of the day, he actually started feeling like he had more energy and felt more alert than before. 

He also began really running low on water, and with a sore throat and the lack of a voice, he found himself sneaking out of his room at 1am one morning to try and get some more water before he eventually reunited with everyone the day after, when his voice would hopefully come back. He had opened his bedroom door just as silently as he used to, and crept down the hallways, holding his breath at each sides door like normal. However when he finally sounded the corner into the kitchen, he found roman sat at the dinner table scribbling furiously into a sketch book.

He paused, looking at roman for a while. His hair looked a mess, the lights weren’t on besides a small lamp across the room so Romana bison must have been impaired, and he had creases in his face from his levels of concentration. Similarly, his hands were so tense, Virgil worried he would snap the pencil gripped tightly between his fingers.

Roman groaned and suddenly tore his eyes from the paper, picking it up and growing it across the room before settling his head on the table in-front of him in obvious frustration. Virgil felt awful just watching, but he found it very difficult to speak up when he could barely whisper a word. However he realised quickly that he couldn’t just watch roman have a mini breakdown, and felt he had to help in some way. So he found himself making the same knocking pattern as Anna form frozen in an attempt to make roman smile.

Romana head whipped up to meet Virgil’s, and he quickly ran his hands through is hair as if trying to fix the mess atop his head. It didn’t work. Virgin almost laughed, and he would’ve if he hadn’t been momentarily taken aback by the wet lines streaming down Romans cheeks. Virgil felt himself moving without even trying to, and he was quickly sat in the seat opposite roman, looking at him sadly.

“What, um, what are you doing here?” Roman quickly voiced, trying to persuade the slight wobble in his voice to go away, but Virgil could still feel it. Roman looked completely broken sat there I the dark crying at one in the morning, and virgin found his hands sliding across the table to meet and grasp Romans own.

When Virgil didn’t reply, roman looked at their intertwined hands and scoffed, squeezing them before looking down sadly, “I bet you think I look like a right mess right now huh? I’m actually surprised you haven’t made a comment yet” he awkwardly smiled at Virgil, and Virgil let out a breathy laugh in return. 

“I ha—t exa—ly got a v—ce” Virgil breathed, trying his best to create all the vowels and consonants even though he was sure Roman could barley understand what he was saying. However Roman understood what this meant for Virgil, and quickly found himself standing and dragging Virgil with him.

“Gosh you sound awful, worse than I probably look,” Virgil have him a knowing look and roman simply rolled his eyes and continued, “I’m assuming you were coming to get some lemon and honey tea? I’ll help you make it.”

Virgil wanted to decline, as he had no idea what the hell honey and lemon tea was and what it would taste like, and he didn’t want roman to be looking after him when it was obvious roman was the one in need of help right now. But roman looked so comfortable and grateful for the destruction that Virgil let it slide, and he promised that whatever this drink tasted like, he would pretend it was the best fucking thing in the world.

Luckily for him, when roman had dumped the mug in Virgil hands and Virgil had taken a quick sip, he actually found himself loving the beverage and thought that it was the nicest drink he had ever tried. He also found it really helped with his throat, stopping the burning he got every time he breathed with his mouth open.

Virgil thanked roman with a silent nod of the head, and roman sat back down opposite him with a timid smile on his face and a look of uncertainty. He wanted to ask how roman was, but with limited options when it came to talking, he ended up pointing to the paper that was scattered all across the kitchen floor. Roman seemed caught of guard and ducked his head, letting the smallest of laughs escape his lips.

“It’s just an idea I had for a new video thumbnail, but I can’t get it right” he looked to the papers, quickly ducking down and grabbing one before showing it to Virgil. Virgil looked at it and didn’t see anything wrong initially. In fact, it looked pretty amazing to him. Roman was really good at drawing.

B it then he noticed something minor that he would change, and without thinking grabbed the pen from across the table and made a few scribbles, showing it back to roman after a moment of debate. Virgil looked on as roman studied the page, and he held his breath as he waited for his response. Of course it was dumb, it was so minor it probably didn’t effect Romans opinion on the design at all.

But then his face lit up in joy. “You’re a genius! Of course that’s all it was! Thank you!” And Virgil simply smiled at the praise, blushing slightly at the compliments. He really wasn’t used to this whole positive feedback thing, he was used to criticism.

“Do you mind if I...?” Roman looked from the paper to the hallway, as if asking Virgil permission to leave and further develop the thumbnail, Virgil looked at him and smiled.

“Of course, go ahead” and he was surprised to find that he could actually get every word out. They were whispered and his voice cracked at ever syllable but they were words and roman could understand him.

Romans face lit up as he scurried from the table, taking the design with him and just as he reached the hallway, he turned around, meeting Virgil’s eyes with a bright, unhindered smile. “Your voice sounds better. Keep drink that tea I’ll see you tomorrow!” And then he was gone.

Virgil was left staring at the empty hallway with a cup of warm tea in his hands and a soft smile on his face as he watched that dork run away. And somewhere in the back of his head, this meeting had helped him make up his mind, so he let out a small laugh and softly cracked out,

“Yeah. Yeah, I think I will”

——

The sides had all made up the day after, and Logan had further given him tips on how to help heal his throat while Patton made soup for him and they all watched a film. It was a nice evening, and Virgil had never felt more cared for than he had at that point, so that was nice.

After that, Virgil didn’t wake up at four in the morning again, and regularly began eating with the sides, keeping a mental diary of all the foods he liked and disliked. It was a minor victory in a much larger battle, but now that the most concerning habits were dealt with, they could move on to the harder ones. The ones that would take time and effort and patience.

Baby steps.


	4. Not again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil’s sick and doesn’t know how to deal with it.

It was a few weeks later when something new came up. V think had been doing well recently, and they had fixed little things along the way as well. 

For example, he no longer felt inclined to sit alone in the chair rather than on the sofa with everyone else. He also began starting conversations with people rather than waiting for them to start them. And he even found himself baking with Patton to try and find out what food he liked, and found that traditional chocolate chip cookies were a particular favourite of his.

However, after a little while, Patton noticed that Virgil began sitting on the chair again. And that he wasn’t joining them for food every night, and that he was no longer coming to the main area to hang out. Patton was honestly a little sad about it, and worried that they had done something to upset Virgil and make him feel alone again. Every time he would knock on Virgil’s door, he would come up with a short answer to whatever Patton was asking. It was concerning, and he ended up going to Logan about it.

It was relieving to know that Logan had also noticed, and even more relieving that roman had ended up joining them during the discussion too. They were all concerned, worried that they had pushed him away or had done something to make him feel unwelcome. Patton hated talking about Virgil when he wasn’t there, but he was scared for him. Scared for what this meant for their relationship.

Logan’s first idea was to see if this kept going. He suggested that maybe Virgil’s was feeling overwhelmed - Thomas had a big audition coming up and was starting to get really nervous about it. They agreed to continue to encourage him to come out of his room more, but to not push him since the may just want some alone time. 

After two weeks and no change, they decided to change tactics.

The new plan was to simply knock twice and then enter his room, so he got a warning, but Patton could still check on him to make sure he wasn’t too stressed. This plan very quickly failed when he discovered Virgil’s room was locked. 

Their only other option was to rise up in Virgil’s room without warning, which Patton didn’t agree with, but after three weeks of barely hearing from Virgil, he quickly found himself agreeing to the plan. 

And that’s how he found himself stood outside Virgil’s door with Logan and roman by his side. He tried knocking once more, but no response answered. He sighed, shaking his head sadly as he looked to Logan and roman and nodded. Together, they all sank out and sank back into Virgil’s room.

What they saw, was an absolute mess.

There were bowls and buckets everywhere. Toilet rolls scattered along the floor and the bin was piled high with tissues torn clothing. The smell that coated the room was horrific, as if someone had hidden a fruit bowl around and waited for it to rotten. All three sides found themselves covering their noses upon arrival. And the most concerning fact was that Virgil was noticeably absent from the room.

Patton quickly walked around, looking around furniture and only finding more oddly coloured stains and damp spots covered in more tissues. Logan was standing completely still, scanning the room when he noticed the bathroom light on, although roman noticed it just before him, and the both of them were quickly stalking towards it. 

They could hear rumbling and coughing, and then someone was throwing up. It didn’t take long for Logan to deduce what was happening, and without further hesitation he opened the unlocked door to find a deathly pale Virgil nearly passed out over the toilet.

His first instinct was to scan the surrounding areas to completely reduce the situation, but luckily Patton had met them after he heard the door opening and his fatherly instincts instantly kicked in. He marched past Logan and roman, quickly holding Virgil steady and upright while he softly spoke word of encouragement to him.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were sick, huh?” He whispered as Virgil’s head lolled back into the toilet bowl and he was promptly throwing up again. Patton ribbed soft circles on his back while the others simply stood in the door way and watched.

“Roman, could you get me some medicine please? And some sleeping tablets, the bags under his eyes are much larger than normal.” Patton smiled, still running his hand across Virgil’s back and speaking quietly so as not to upset him. Roman listened promptly and found himself grateful for the excuse to do something. He left Logan still analysing the scene in the doorway.

“Lo, could you get my bed ready? I’m going to take him there since his room is currently a mess. If you finish with that before we’re done here, you can start cleaning up Virgil’s room for when he’s better.” Patton once again spoke softly, and Logan almost didn’t move, but one glance at Patton and although he was lacking the dad voice, his eyes spoke volumes and Logan was swiftly leaving the room. Patton sighed in relief and continued to stroke Virgil’s back. 

“Right champ, how do you feel about sinking out right now?” And as soon as the question left pattons lips, Virgil’s head completely fell lose and he was unconscious. Patton tried not to let it worry him too much. Logan would’ve mention if he had noticed anything serious, the only thing serious here was Virgil’s frankly embarrassing attempt at self care. Patton wondered why he didn’t just come to the sides to ask for help if he was feeling unwell, instead of hiding away and locking everyone out.

Patton took the back of his hand and felt Virgil’s forehead, pulling it back at the heat. That wasn’t good. Virgil was also very much sweating, but even unconscious he was still shivering. His poor baby had a fever and didn’t even think to ask for help. Patton tsked disapprovingly and shook his head as he gathered Virgil into his arms, quickly noticing that he was still wearing his mysteriously damp hoodie.

Patton sighed and mentally prepared himself for the self care lecture Virgil was going to get tomorrow, but before that he quickly closed his eyes and imagined his own room. When he arrived, everything looked spotless, and there was the noticeable absence of Logan. Patton wondered where he could be, but he entered the room a moment later with a bucket and a glass of ice cold water. “For when he wakes” was his explanation, and Patton tried not to coo at Logan’s caring nature.

Roman entered the room a minute later, hands full of tablets and jars, along with a fresh pair of pyjamas and a cuddly toy. Patton once again tried not to squeal at Romans obvious, and cute attempt at helping Virgil. “I didn’t know what medicine you wanted, so I grabbed it all. Oh and I though his clothes looked a bit gross, so I got him a fresh pair of comfy ones for when he wakes up. And Mrs fluffybottom caught my eye, and I thought she might help since he always liked her when we were younger.” 

Patton tried not to squeal too loudly at the sentiment.

~~~

Later that evening, roman and Logan had just finished cleaning Virgil’s room when he began to stir awake. Patton had been by his side all day, only leaving his side briefly to use the bathroom. Virgil blinked awake, flinching at the bright lights in pattons room. Patton quickly summoned both roman and Logan, asking roman to dim the lights quickly. He did so, and they all stood around the bed waiting for Virgil to wake up.

When he did finally probably awaken, the first thing he did was roll over and reach for something. Logan handed him the bucket just in time. After he was done, he rolled back onto his back and opened his eyes fully before jumping back in surprise at the faces in front of him. He grabbed his head in pain, a headache, Logan deduced.

“Hey buddy, how you doing?” Patton asked quietly, also catching onto Virgil’s pounding head. Virgil looked at him, smiled briefly, and then panicked.

“I’m sick” he said shortly, voice rough and straining. Roman grabbed the glass of water of the bedside cabinet and handed it to a very grateful Virgil. He took it in shaking hands, but roman refused to let go in fear of him dropping it. 

“We know that, bud, you don’t exactly look great.” Roman said while lowering the glass after Virgil was finished and gently placing it back down. Virgil looked conflicted and tired, as if he could fall asleep any moment. 

“I don’t want to give it to you all” he said simply. And Patton knew at this point, somehow, that the reason Virgil hadn’t come out of his room for nearly a month was because he was afraid he would pass on his illness to the rest of them. He suffered alone to protect them.

But this simply wouldn’t do in pattons book.

Patton planned to stay by his side and help back to health, and hopefully he would show Virgil how much nicer it is when you let your friend help you. 

But first, Patton had to make sure virgil got to the bucket in time.


End file.
